Tavares hopes logo will attract visitors

A debate about the new emblem erupted between the mayor and administrator.

January 21, 2006|By Martin E. Comas, Sentinel Staff Writer

TAVARES -- City officials hope a new logo will lure more people to the lakes and parks, while at the same time cool a heated debate between the mayor and the city administrator over its design.

This week, the City Council unanimously approved replacing Tavares' decades-old emblem with a new design that features a yellow sun rising above a blue wave and green grass. It includes "1882," when Tavares was founded, and the city's new slogan, "Discover Our Waterways."

The logo was the brainchild of police Chief Stoney Lubins, who volunteered last February to design the city's Web site in his spare time.

"It represents a bright outlook for Tavares," Lubins said Friday. "We wanted something new and fresh. Our city is changing, and we're trying to promote the city's blueways and greenways."

Council member Robert Speaks said it's an improvement over the old logo, which featured the word "Tavares" surrounded by stars and different colored bars. He hopes the new logo will attract more people to the city.

"Just by looking at it, it makes me think, `That looks like a place I might want to visit,' " Speaks said.

But the new logo came with controversy.

In December, Mayor Nancy Clutts lashed out at City Administrator Dottie Keedy, saying that staff members had placed the new design on the city's Web site without the council's approval.

At the time, Keedy said that city staff, including Lubins, had been tinkering with the logo for several months and that nobody on the council had ever complained. She then agreed to bring Lubins' design for approval at Wednesday's meeting.

Clutts, an adjunct instructor of design and illustration at Lake-Sumter Community College, voted for the new design Wednesday. She did not return phone messages.

"I hope this brings it to an end," Speaks said Friday, referring to the controversy.

Keedy praised Lubins' work, saying it saved Tavares money by not having to pay a graphics design company.

"He's a multitalented person," Keedy said. "It was a really nice effort, and it really captures what we're trying to say about Tavares."

Lubins said, however, that he has virtually no experience in graphic design and was surprised when council members unanimously approved his logo.

"Hey, I draw stick men and that's about it," he said. "But it was something I felt I could do for the city. It was actually kind of fun and kind of relaxing."

The new logo will be phased in. It will first appear on city stationery, letterheads and at the top of the council's agenda. Eventually it will be placed on all city vehicles, including police cars and firetrucks. The city's old water tower, which prominently features the old logo, will be torn down this year. The tower has not been used for several years.